Lessons from the Virtual Classroom, Second Edition

The second edition of the classic resource Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom offers a comprehensive reference for faculty to hone their skills in becoming more effective online instructors. Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect recent changes and challenges that face online teachers, Lessons from the Virtual Classroom is filled with illustrative examples from actual online courses as well as helpful insights from teachers and students. This essential guide offers targeted suggestions for dealing with such critical issues as evaluating effective courseware, working with online classroom dynamics, addressing the needs of the online student, making the transition to online teaching, and promoting the development of the learning community.

Praise for Lessons from the Virtual Classroom, Second Edition

"Palloff and Pratt demonstrate their exceptional practical experience and insight into the online classroom. This is an invaluable resource for those tasked with creating an online course."

— D. Randy Garrison, professor, University of Calgary, and author, Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines

"Faculty will deeply appreciate and make use of the many explicit examples of how to design, prepare, and teach both blended and fully online courses."

— Judith V. Boettcher, faculty coach and author, The Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips

"Lessons from the Virtual Classroom is filled with insightful caveats and recommendations, pointed examples to enhance your practice, succinct summaries of the research, and engaging visual overviews. Each page brings the reader a renewed sense of confidence to teach online as well as personal joy that there is finally a resource to find the answers one is seeking."

— Curtis J. Bonk, professor of education, Indiana University-Bloomington, and author, Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Activities for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing

Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt have consulted to universities in the development and delivery of online learning since 1994. In conjunction with Fielding Graduate University, they developed the Online Teaching and Learning academic certificate program. They are the authors of Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom, The Virtual Student, Collaborating Online, Building Online Learning Communities, Assessing Online Learning, and The Excellent Online Instructor all from Jossey-Bass.

Figures, Tables, and Exhibits

Preface to the Second Edition: The Face of Online Learning Today

The Authors

Acknowledgments

Part One: Rethinking Education for an Online World

1 Online Learning in the Twenty-First Century   

2 The Art of Online Teaching      

3 Administrative Issues and Concerns

4 The Tools of Online Teaching  

Part Two: Teaching and Learning Online

5 Transforming Courses for the Online Classroom            

6 Teaching Courses Developed by Others            

7 Working with the Virtual Student         

8 Online Classroom Dynamics    

9 Lessons Learned in the Virtual Classroom         

Appendix A: Sample Training for Faculty               

Appendix B: Additional Resources           

References